Bob Goodlatte backs ‘earned’ citizenship for DREAMers

'I wouldn’t give them what I would call a special pathway to citizenship,' Goodlatte said. | AP Photo

By SEUNG MIN KIM | 9/19/13 7:30 PM EDT
Politico

A top House Republican in the immigration reform debate on Thursday explicitly endorsed a pathway to citizenship for some undocumented immigrants brought to the United States illegally by their parents.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte (R-Va.) said that for the young undocumented immigrants to qualify for this path, they would have to meet certain requirements such as in education or with military service.

“I wouldn’t give them what I would call a special pathway to citizenship,” Goodlatte said at a House Republican Conference event marking Hispanic Heritage Month. “I would give them an earned pathway to citizenship.”

Goodlatte also repeated his openness to a citizenship path for the broader undocumented population. Those currently living in the United States without authorization should be allowed to become legalized, he said, and then use existing channels – such as marriage to a U.S. citizen or sponsorship by an employer – if they want to pursue citizenship.

While he acknowledged that his proposal wouldn’t cover every undocumented immigrant, Goodlatte said he feels “very strongly in my conversations with people it would be a major solution to the problem.”

“We have to find the appropriate legal status for people who are not lawfully here,” said Goodlatte, a former immigration attorney. He has repeatedly rejected the so-called “special pathway to citizenship” that he contends is in the Senate Gang of Eight bill — a sweeping piece of legislation that passed that chamber in June.

The committee chairman – whose moves are being closely scrutinized by immigration advocates – stressed that House Republicans were still committed to a rewrite of U.S. immigration laws, and that bills that have cleared his panel need to be voted on “the sooner the better” by the full House.

The House Judiciary Committee has passed four separate bills – all on party lines – overhauling different sectors of the current immigration system. The House Homeland Security Committee has passed a border-security bill that garnered unanimous backing.

Goodlatte said his committee is working on four additional immigration bills, but declined to elaborate. The chairman is known to be working on the so-called Kids Act with House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Va.) that would legalize young undocumented immigrants.

Another bill is likely one from Republican Reps. Ted Poe of Texas and Raul Labrador of Idaho, who have been writing legislation that would provide visas for temporary workers.

Alfonso Aguilar, the executive director of the Latino Partnership for Conservative Principles, who moderated the panel, said he was “very encouraged” by Goodlatte’s remarks.

“He clarified that Republicans in the House are not against closing the door to citizenship to those who legalize, as some in the left irresponsibly allege,” Aguilar said in a statement. “I hope Democrats in the House respond favorably to these comments and decide to work with Republicans to get immigration reform passed in the House.”